Real-time network analyzer and applications

ABSTRACT

In some applications network parameters vary over time in a manner that precludes the use of conventional swept frequency network analyzers. Swept measurements incur penalty both in terms of acquisition time, and in terms of registration between measurements taken at the beginning and at the end of a sweep. Disclosed is an architecture and method for real-time analysis of network parameters. Example applications are presented, ranging from thermal drift of amplifiers, to microwave imaging of moving objects, to characterizing materials on conveyors, to characterizing plasma buildup, and many more.

CROSS-REFERENCE

The present application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.15/226,865, filed on Aug. 02, 2016, entitled “REAL-TIME NETWORK ANALYZERAND APPLICATION” (attorney docket no. VY021/US); which claims priorityto U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/200079, filed on Aug. 02,2015, entitled “REAL-TIME NETWORK ANALYZER AND APPLICATION” (attorneydocket no. VY021/USP); each of which is incorporated herein by referencein its entirety.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

All publications, patents, and patent applications mentioned in thisspecification are herein incorporated by reference to the same extent asif each individual publication, patent, or patent application wasspecifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Network analyzers are an essential tool for characterizing radiofrequency devices. Network analyzers are often embedded into systems forcharacterizing antennas, radar cross section, propagation paths,materials sensors etc. The common structure of a network analyzer is afrequency-stepped signal source, multiple receivers, where at least oneof the multiple receivers measures a reference signal, and at least oneof the receivers simultaneously measures a signal arriving from a deviceunder test (DUT). The dwell time on each frequency depends on the amountof signal averaging desired, affecting the measurement accuracy andsensitivity, and it is reflected in a “IF bandwidth” or “resolutionbandwidth” parameter. The number of frequencies over which the sweep isperformed affects the overall sweep time.

The DUT parameters are usually assumed to remain constant throughout thesweep time. In most applications this does not pose a limitation, suchas when characterizing passive networks, e.g. filters. However, in manycases, the network parameters change over time. For example, antenna mayrotate in an antenna range. An amplifier may warm up and change itscharacteristics after turn-on. Material under test may move on aconveyor belt or in a pipe, each time bringing in a new sample. Apatient may breathe or move during examination in a medical microwaveimaging system. An indoor propagation path may vary due to plasmadischarge buildup and decay in a fluorescent lamp. In such cases, longacquisition time poses a limitation. It is, therefore, desirable to havea network analyzer with a substantially shorter acquisition time,capable of characterizing networks and devices in real time.

In some applications network parameters vary over time in a manner thatprecludes the use of conventional swept frequency network analyzers.Swept measurements incur penalty both in terms of acquisition time, andin terms of registration between measurements taken at the beginning andat the end of a sweep.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a realtime network analyzer, comprising: at least one generator configured andoperable to produce a wideband time periodic signal; a plurality ofreceivers operably connected to the at least one generator to receivethe wideband time periodic signal,, wherein each of said plurality ofreceivers comprises: a wideband sampling data converter configured andoperable to sample and convert the received wideband time periodicsignal to digital data; a frequency response calculation unit configuredand operable to convert the digital data to a frequency domain signal;and a network parameters calculating unit configured and operable toprocess the digital data to calculate network parameters.

In an embodiment, the network analyzer is configured to: sample at leasttwo wideband signals of the network analyzer, wherein a first signal ofsaid at least two is a reference signal and the other signals are one ormore incoming signals; and compute the ratio of Fourier coefficientsbetween the first signal and the other signals to yield said networkparameters.

In an embodiment, the wideband periodic signal spectrum covers all thefrequency range of interest.

In an embodiment, the wideband periodic signal is a multi-tone signal.

In an embodiment, the wideband sampling data converter is a sub-samplingdata converter.

In an embodiment, the frequency response calculation unit is a Fouriertransform processor.

In an embodiment, the network analyzer is a vector network analyzer(VNA).

In an embodiment, the network analyzer comprises a transmitterconfiguredand operable to generate a wideband signal at an appropriate frequencyand with time periodicity T1.

In an embodiment, the network analyzer comprises a local oscillatorconfigured and operable to generate a wideband signal at an appropriatefrequency and with time periodicity T2 for down-conversion of aplurality of signals.

In an embodiment, the network analyzer comprises: a correlator unitconfigured and operable to receive the digital data and correlate thedigital data with a template waveform and an impulse response extractionunit connected to the correlator configured and operable to compute thetime domain impulse response.

According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a methodfor processing a wideband signal, the method comprising: sampling andconverting said wideband signal to digital data by a wideband samplingdata converter; storing at least one period of said digital data in anon-transitory storage memory; and converting the at least one period ofsaid digital data to frequency domain by a Fourier transform processor.

In an embodiment the method further comprising: sampling at least twowideband signals of the network analyzer, said at least two widebandsignals comprising a reference signal and the other signals are one ormore incoming sampled signals; and computing a ratio of Fouriercoefficients between the first signal and the one or more incomingsampled signals to yield said network parameters.

In an embodiment, said parameters are Scattering parameters.

In an embodiment, the method further comprising reducing the processedsignal bandwidth.

In an embodiment, the wideband sampling data converter is a sub-samplingdata converter configured and operable to reduce the processed signalbandwidth.

In an embodiment, the method further comprising: performing a Fouriertransform to obtain Fourier transform coefficients; and reordering theFourier transform coefficients by a deinterleaver for furtherprocessing.

In an embodiment, the method further comprising deinterleaving the timedomain sub-samples of said signals into an order which represents thesequential order of the wideband samples signal; and converting thedeinterleaved signal to frequency domain by using a Fourier transform.

In an embodiment, reducing said processed signal bandwidth comprisesusing a wideband baseband signal as a local oscillator of a receiverfrequency down-converter.

In an embodiment, the wideband generated signal is a multi-tone “comb”like signal, covering typically all the band of interest. The receivedsignals are processed typically over a single (or few) time periods,thus enabling real time evaluation of DUT parameters.

In an embodiment the wideband sampling data converter is replaced by asub-sampling data converter, thus reducing the processed signalbandwidth.

In an embodiment the network analyzer is a vector network analyzer(VNA).

According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provideda real time network analyzer, comprising: a wideband signal or; aplurality of receivers comprising: a wideband sampling data converter; acorrelator of the received sampled signal with a template; an impulseresponse extraction unit; frequency response calculation unit; and anetwork parameter calculating unit.

Unless otherwise defined, all technical and/or scientific terms usedherein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinaryskill in the art to which the invention pertains. Although methods andmaterials similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used inthe practice or testing of embodiments of the invention, exemplarymethods and/or materials are described below. In case of conflict, thepatent specification, including definitions, will control. In addition,the materials, methods, and examples are illustrative only and are notintended to be necessarily limiting.

Implementation of the method and/or system of embodiments of theinvention can involve performing or completing selected tasks manually,automatically, or a combination thereof. Moreover, according to actualinstrumentation and equipment of embodiments of the method and/or systemof the invention, several selected tasks could be implemented byhardware, by software or by firmware or by a combination thereof usingan operating system.

For example, hardware for performing selected tasks, according toembodiments of the invention, could be implemented as a chip or acircuit. As software, selected tasks according to embodiments of theinvention could be implemented as a plurality of software instructionsbeing executed by a computer using any suitable operating system. In anexemplary embodiment of the invention, one or more tasks according toexemplary embodiments of method and/or system as described herein, areperformed by a data processor, such as a computing platform forexecuting a plurality of instructions. Optionally, the data processorincludes a non-transitory volatile memory for storing instructionsand/or data and/or a non-volatile storage, for example, a magnetichard-disk and/or removable media, for storing instructions and/or data.Optionally, a network connection is provided as well. A display and/or auser input device such as a keyboard or mouse are optionally provided aswell.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The subject matter disclosed may best be understood by reference to thefollowing detailed description when read with the accompanying drawingsin which:

FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram showing a set-up of an exemplary2-port Network Analyzer system connected to a device under test, inaccordance with embodiments;

FIG. 2A illustrates generation of a periodic baseband signal, inaccordance with embodiments;

FIG. 2B illustrates generation and frequency up-conversion of a periodicsignal frequency, in accordance with embodiments;

FIG. 3A illustrates a periodic signal analyzing receiver, in accordancewith embodiments;

FIG. 3B illustrates a method for real time processing of one or morewideband signals, in accordance with embodiments;

FIG. 4A illustrates a periodic signal analyzing receiver utilizingsub-sampling and involving a Fourier transform followed bydeinterleaving, in accordance with embodiments;

FIG. 4B illustrates a periodic signal analyzing receiver utilizingsub-sampling and involving deinterleaving time-domain samples followedby a Fourier transform, in accordance with embodiments;

FIG. 4C illustrates the process of time sample deinterleaving, inaccordance with embodiments;

FIG. 5A illustrates a system comprising a periodic wideband transmittingsource with time periodicity T₁ and down-conversion of received signalswith a periodic wideband local oscillator with time periodicity T₂, inaccordance with embodiments;

FIG. 5B illustrates the downconverted wideband periodic signal, inaccordance with embodiments; and

FIG. 6 shows the structure of an impulse response analyzing receiverbased on transmission of a sequence and correlation with a templatesequence, in accordance with embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, various aspects of the invention will bedescribed. For the purposes of explanation, specific details are setforth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. Itwill be apparent to one skilled in the art that there are otherembodiments of the invention that differ in details without affectingthe essential nature thereof. Therefore the invention is not limited bythat which is illustrated in the figure and described in thespecification, but only as indicated in the accompanying claims, withthe proper scope determined only by the broadest interpretation of saidclaims.

The configurations disclosed herein can be combined in one or more ofmany ways to provide an improved network analyzer for real-time analysisof network parameters. In accordance with the description herein,examples include configurations ranging from thermal drift ofamplifiers, to microwave imaging of moving objects, characterizingmaterials on conveyors, characterizing plasma buildup, and many more.

The methods and apparatus disclosed herein can be incorporated withcomponents from network analyzers known in the art, such as networkanalyzer described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/605084entitled “VECTOR NETWORK ANALYZER”, the entire disclosures of which areincorporated herein by reference.

Use of a wideband signal (instead of, for example, a swept signal),allows instantaneous, i.e. real time measurement and characterization ofthe DUT network parameters. A single period of the received signalwaveform is adequate for this. However, if longer acquisition time ispermitted, multiple periods of the signal waveform may be averaged inorder to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. For example, a multi-tone1-3 GHz “comb” signal of 200 sub-carriers equally spaced by 10 MHz has atime period of 100 ns, thus acquisition time is of the order of 100 ns;signals over several periods of 100 ns each may be averaged.

In some cases, the multi-tone signals may have large peak-to-averageratio, thus potentially harming the efficiency of the source driveamplifiers. It is therefore preferable to use well-designed signalwaveforms having small peak-to-average ratio. Such signal waveforms arewell known in the art, e.g. chirp waveforms and complementary sequences.Furthermore, the proposed multi-tone signals may be compressed in acontrolled or uncontrolled way (e.g. by the power amplifier) withoutaffecting operation. This is because, even after compression, the signalremains still a multi-tone signal, however with different amplitudes andphases, and perhaps some spectral growth. The amplitudes and phasesgenerated by compression may be compensated for example by comparisonwith, or division by, the said reference signal.

The time period of the instantaneous wideband signal waveform can beadapted to the time scale of the variations that need to becharacterized. For fast phenomena, a shorter time period can be used. Asa consequence, assuming a multi-tone “comb” signal, the frequency combwill have lower density of spectral lines. For example, a 100 nsmulti-tone signal has a comb spacing of 10 MHz while a 50 ns signal hasa comb spacing of 20 MHz.

In some applications, a non-equally spaced transmitted multi-tone may beused in order to reduce the effect of inter-modulations.

Modern data converters allow generating and sampling waveforms in theGHz range. This means that the instantaneous bandwidth of a real-timenetwork analyzer based on the proposed methods and systems can be in arange of few GHz. There is a recurring tradeoff between the samplingfrequency and resolution. For example, use of a periodic waveform 100nsec long will allow measurements over a 10 MHz grid. Use of a waveform1 microsecond long will allow 1 MHz grid, at the expense of timeresolution.

Reference is made to FIG. 1 illustrating a set-up for measuring andanalyzing in real time parameters of a network, in accordance withembodiment of the disclosed subject matter. The Network Analyzer (101)comprises at least one signal generator (105) for signal generation andat least one receiver channel (106) for signal acquisition andmeasurement. The measurements are obtained by a processing orcalculating unit (108) configured to calculate the network parameters. AReal Time Network Analyzer implementation according to some embodimentsfurther includes a test set (102) comprising one or more bridges (107)and multiple receiver channels (106) to allow simultaneous acquisitionand measurement of network parameters of a device under test (103).

In some embodiments, the processing unit includes one or more hardwarecentral processing units (CPU) that carry out the device's functions. Instill further embodiments, the digital processing unit further comprisesan operating system configured to perform executable instructions. Insome embodiments, the processing unit is optionally connected a computernetwork. In further embodiments, the processing unit is optionallyconnected to the Internet such that it accesses the World Wide Web. Instill further embodiments, the processing unit is optionally connectedto a cloud computing infrastructure. In other embodiments, theprocessing unit is optionally connected to an intranet. In otherembodiments, the processing unit is optionally connected to a datastorage device.

In some embodiments, the processing unit includes one or morenon-transitory computer readable storage media encoded with a programincluding instructions executable by the operating system of anoptionally networked digital processing device. In further embodiments,a non-transitory computer readable storage medium is a tangiblecomponent of a digital processing device.

In accordance with some embodiments, the continuous-wave (CW) signalsource of a network analyzer, which is typically swept over a frequencyrange of interest, is replaced with an instantaneous wideband signalsource, preferably covering instantaneously all the frequency range ofinterest. The wideband signal source preferably generates a multi-tone“comb” of equally spaced sub-carrier frequencies, resulting in aperiodic time-domain signal. For example, to cover the 1-3 GHz frequencyband of interest (i.e. the band to be analyzed), a multi-tone “comb”signal of 200 sub-carriers equally spaced by 10 MHz, with the lowestfrequency at 1 GHz and time period of 100 ns is generated.

Reference is made to FIG. 2A illustrating a method (200) for generatingthe wideband signal in accordance with some embodiments. The methodcomprises: using a digital waveform memory (202) which is periodicallyread out using for example an address counter (201). The resultingdigital signal is converted by a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) (203)and filtered, using an antialias filter (204), to suppress aliasing.

Optionally, the wideband signal can be translated to a higher frequencyby mixing it with the output of an auxiliary transmit oscillator, usinga regular or a quadrature type modulator. This translation is requiredwhen the frequency range to be analyzed is at a very high frequency,which cannot be covered directly by the generated wideband signal. Forexample, to analyze the frequency range of 11-13 GHz, a signal of 1-3GHz is frequency translated to that range, by mixing it with the outputof a 10 GHz auxiliary transmit oscillator.

Reference is made to FIG. 2B illustrating a method 210 for generating afrequency up-converted wideband signal frequency, in accordance withembodiments. The method comprises using a digital waveform memory (212)which is periodically read out using for example an address counter(211), generating and outputting two digital signals in quadraturerelation one to the other (I/Q). The signals are further converted bythe dual digital-to-analog converter (213) and filtered, using dualantialias filters (214), suppress aliasing. The resulting signals outputfrom the filters (214) to a quadrature modulator (215), where they arefrequency-up-converted and output as a frequency up-converted widebandsignal.

On the receive side, each of the plurality of receivers may down-convertthe signal to a wideband baseband, (in case it was up-converted at thetransmit stage) by mixing the received signal with the output of anauxiliary receive oscillator, the mixer being of a regular or quadraturemixer type. For example, a received signal of for example 11-13 GHz isfrequency down-converted to a 1-3 GHz range or to a different range,e.g. 0-2 GHz, using an auxiliary receive oscillator of frequency 10 GHzor 11 GHz accordingly.

The auxiliary transmit oscillator and the auxiliary receive oscillatormay have in some cases the same frequency or different frequencies. Forexample, frequency offset between the oscillators can be used to avoidupper sideband subcarriers and lower sideband subcarriers folding ontoeach other during reception.

Reference is made to FIGS. 3A and 3B which are high level schematicblock diagrams illustrating a periodic signal analyzing receiver (300)of a network analyzer and steps of a method (310) for real timeprocessing one or more wideband signals, in accordance with embodiments.

As illustrated in FIG. 3A, a wideband baseband signal is sampled andconverted to digital data using, for example, wideband sampling dataconverters (301), e.g. wideband analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). Atleast one period of the signal is stored in a non-transistory storagememory such as a “snapshot” memory (302), and then output to a frequencyresponse calculation unit configured to convert the stored signal to thefrequency domain using, for example, a Fourier transform processor(303). In some cases, a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) algorithm is used,but other numerical methods such as “Chirp Z-transform” (CZT) may beused.

According to some embodiments, for real time network analysis, asschematically illustrated in FIG. 1, a reference signal (110) isreceived on one channel, and one or more incoming signals (111, 112)from the device under test (DUT) are received on other channels.Computing the ratio of Fourier coefficients between different receivedchannels (e.g. incoming signal-channels (111, 112) versus a referencechannel (110)), the relevant network parameters (e.g. the Scatteringparameters) at each frequency are calculated by, for example, theprocessing unit (108).

Reference is made to FIG. 3B illustrating a method (310) for real timeprocessing one or more wideband signals, in accordance with embodiments.Step (320) includes sampling and converting the wideband signal todigital data by for example a wideband sampling data converter. Step(330) includes storing at least one period of the converted widebandsignal in a non-transitory storage memory and step (340) includesconverting the at least one period of the converted wideband signal tofrequency domain by a frequency response calculation unit such asFourier transform processor.

Reference is made to FIG. 4A illustrating an embodiment (400) where thewideband sampling data converter is replaced by a sub-sampling dataconverter (401), thus reducing the processed signal bandwidth. Accordingto some embodiments, at least one multiple of N periods of the signal(which was sub-sampled by a factor of N) is stored in a “snapshot”non-transitory memory (402), followed by conversion of the signal tofrequency domain using for example a Fourier transform processor (403).Usually a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) algorithm is used, but othernumerical methods such as “Chirp Z-transform” (CZT) may be used. It isnoted that due to aliasing, the Fourier transform coefficients e.g.spectral lines) are permuted and should be reordered by a sprectral linedeinterleaver (404) for further processing.

For example, a 1-3 GHz bandwidth would typically require a wideband ADCwith 8 Gs/sec sampling rate. Assume that a waveform with a period of 10nsec is used. Such waveform has spectral components each 100 MHz. At the8 Gs/sec there are 80 samples per period. However, in an embodimenthaving a slower ADC, say ⅓of the 8 Gs/sec, 2.666 Gs/sec, we can acquire80 samples representing 3 periods of the waveform, perform the Fouriertransform and get the resulting spectral lines. Due to aliasing, thespectral lines are a permuted version of the original 80 spectral lines,and yet all the 80 spectral lines are discernible and can be reorderedinto the original order and then analyzed. It is worth noting that threeperiods of 10 nsec are still just 30 nsec, which meet the“real-time”notion.

Reference is made to FIG. 4B illustrating an embodiment (410) where thetime domain sub-samples are deinterleaved by a sample deinterleaver(405) into an order that represents the order of the original, thenot-sub-sampled signal, then converted to frequency domain for exampleby a Fourier transform processor (403). An example illustrating the needfor deinterleaving is shown in FIG. 4C, referencing to the same waveformof 80 samples and acquiring 80 samples representing 3 periods of thewaveform. The signal samples (421) at the original sampling rate (e.g. 8Gs/sec) are schematically shown on a time line (420). By sub-sampling bya factor of 3 (e.g. 2.66 Gs/sec) we get the signals (431) in the orderof 0, 3, 6 . . . 78 from the first period, 1, 4, 7 . . . 79 from thesecond period and 2, 5, 8 . . . 77 from the third period, schematicallyshown on a time line (430). The sample deinterleaver (405) outputdelivered to the Fourier transform processor (403) will be the samplesin the proper sequential order of 0, 1, 2, 3 . . . 79.

Another method, according to some embodiments, comprises enabling theuse of narrower sampling data converter to compress the bandwidth of thereceived signals by using a wideband signal as local oscillator (RXLO)of the receiver frequency down- converter, instead of a conventional CWlocal oscillator.

Reference is made to FIG. 5A schematically showing a part of a networkanalyzer (500) of FIG. 1 comprising a transmiter (501) configured togenerate a wideband signal at an appropriate frequency and with timeperiodicity T₁ and a local oscillator (502) configured to generate awideband signal at an appropriate frequency and with time periodicity T₂for down-conversion by down-converters (504) of three received signals(110, 111, 112). The down-converters (504) according to one embodiment,include a mixer and a low-pass filter.

Reference is made to FIG. 5B, illustrating signals in the frequencydomain With the received signal a multi-tone “comb” at sub-carrierspacing ΔF₁, where ΔF₁₌1/T₁, shown in graph (510), one way to do so isto use as local oscillator (RXLO) for frequency down-conversion tobaseband a multi-tone comb signal with sub-carrier spacing ΔF₂₌1/T₂,shown in graph (520) as opposed to ΔF₁ where |ΔF₁−ΔF₂|=δf and δf is anintermediate frequency, typically much smaller than ΔF₁ and ΔF₂. As aresult, the down-converted signal shown in graph (530) is a multi-tonesignal with sub-carrier spacing of δf as opposed ΔF₁ (the spacing of theoriginal transmitted signal), the result being a bandwidth compressionby a factor of ΔF₁/δf and as such a narrower band sampling dataconverter (by the same factor) can be used.

Specifically, in some cases, the transmitted signal may include adiscrete comb at frequencies f₀=ΔF₁·n, n=0,1,2 . . . (where f₀ is thefrequency of the transmit auxiliary oscillator) and RXLO is a scaledcomb with frequencies at f₀−IF₀+(ΔF₂). n (where IF₀ is an offsetfrequency—can be null, implementation dependent). After the receivedmixer, the resulting down-converted signal yields sub-carriers atIF₀+n·δf, (or IF₀−n·δf depending of the downconversion upper side orlower side) i.e. spacing of δf as opposed ΔF₁ (the spacing of theoriginal transmitted signal).

According to another embodiment to obtain a received baseband bandwidthcompression the following method is utilized. Suppose the transmittedsignal is a multi- tone comb with sub-carriers separated ΔF₁ apart, i.e.f₀+ΔF₁·n, n32 0,1,2 . . . and only K of them can fit into the receiver'sbaseband bandwidth. This limitation is typically due to the bandwidth ofthe sampling data converter. The RXLO is chosen as a multi-tone combsignal with sub-carrier spacing ΔF₁·K−δf, i.e. f₀−IF₀+(ΔF₁·K−δf)·n. Thefirst K sub-carriers of the received signal are demodulated by the firstsub-carrier of the RXLO signal, i.e. to IF₀+m·ΔF₁ (m=0, . . . ,K−1) .The next K sub-carriers are demodulated by the second RXLO sub-carrier,i.e., to IF₀+m·ΔF₁+δf thus a shift of δf with respect to the first set.The next K sub-carriers are demodulated by the third RXLO sub-carrieri.e. to IF₀+m ·ΔF₁+2 ·δf thus a shift of 2δf with respect to the firstset, and so on. A similar derivation is achieved when the RXLO is chosenas a multi-tone comb signal with sub-carrier spacing ΔF₁ ·K+δf.

Reference is made to FIG. 6 illustrating another method (600) ofprocessing a received signal in accordance to embodiments. The methodmay include obtaining the time domain system impulse response bycorrelating the received signal with a template waveform selected suchthat the correlation between the transmitted signal waveform and thetemplate waveform is an approximated delta-function. The receivedwideband signal is converted to digital data using, for example,wideband sampling data converters (601), e.g. wideband analog-to-digitalconverters (ADCs) and then temporarily stored in a “snapshot”non-transitory memory (602). The stored signal is correlated with atemplate waveform, in correlator (606) and the correlation result is fedto an impulse response extractor (607) generating the time domainimpulse response of the system, which is then converted to the frequencydomain using for example a Fourier transform processor (603). Accordingto this configuration it is possible to work with nonperiodic signalwaveforms or use a shorter fragment of a waveform for estimating thesystem response. It is noted that periodic waveforms can be used aswell, using cyclic correlation for the processing.

In the above description, an embodiment is an example or implementationof the inventions. The various appearances of “one embodiment,” “anembodiment” or “some embodiments” do not necessarily all refer to thesame embodiments.

Although various features of the invention may be described in thecontext of a single embodiment, the features may also be providedseparately or in any suitable combination. Conversely, although theinvention may be described herein in the context of separate embodimentsfor clarity, the invention may also be implemented in a singleembodiment.

Reference in the specification to “some embodiments”, “an embodiment”,“one embodiment” or “other embodiments” means that a particular feature,structure, or characteristic described in connection with theembodiments is included in at least some embodiments, but notnecessarily all embodiments, of the inventions.

It is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employedherein is not to be construed as limiting and are for descriptivepurpose only. The principles and uses of the teachings of the presentinvention may be better understood with reference to the accompanyingdescription, figures and examples.

It is to be understood that the details set forth herein do not construea limitation to an application of the invention.

Furthermore, it is to be understood that the invention can be carriedout or practiced in various ways and that the invention can beimplemented in embodiments other than the ones outlined in thedescription above.

It is to be understood that the terms “including”, “comprising”,“consisting” and grammatical variants thereof do not preclude theaddition of one or more components, features, steps, or integers orgroups thereof and that the terms are to be construed as specifyingcomponents, features, steps or integers.

If the specification or claims refer to “an additional” element, thatdoes not preclude there being more than one of the additional element.

It is to be understood that where the claims or specification refer to“a” or “an” element, such reference is not be construed that there isonly one of that element.

It is to be understood that where the specification states that acomponent, feature, structure, or characteristic “may”, “might”, “can”or “could” be included, that particular component, feature, structure,or characteristic is not required to be included.

Where applicable, although state diagrams, flow diagrams or both may beused to describe embodiments, the invention is not limited to thosediagrams or to the corresponding descriptions. For example, flow neednot move through each illustrated box or state, or in exactly the sameorder as illustrated and described.

Methods of the present invention may be implemented by performing orcompleting manually, automatically, or a combination thereof, selectedsteps or tasks.

The descriptions, examples, methods and materials presented in theclaims and the specification are not to be construed as limiting butrather as illustrative only.

Meanings of technical and scientific terms used herein are to becommonly understood as by one of ordinary skill in the art to which theinvention belongs, unless otherwise defined.

The present invention may be implemented in the testing or practice withmethods and materials equivalent or similar to those described herein.

While the invention has been described with respect to a limited numberof embodiments, these should not be construed as limitations on thescope of the invention, but rather as exemplifications of some of thepreferred embodiments. Other possible variations, modifications, andapplications are also within the scope of the invention.

Accordingly, the scope of the invention should not be limited by whathas thus far been described, but by the appended claims and their legalequivalents.

All publications, patents and patent applications mentioned in thisspecification are herein incorporated in their entirety by referenceinto the specification, to the same extent as if each individualpublication, patent or patent application was specifically andindividually indicated to be incorporated herein by reference. Inaddition, citation or identification of any reference in thisapplication shall not be construed as an admission that such referenceis available as prior art to the present invention. To the extent thatsection headings are used, they should not be construed as necessarilylimiting.

What is claimed is:
 1. A real time network analyzer, comprising: atleast one generator configured and operable to produce a wideband timeperiodic signal; a plurality of receivers operably connected to the atleast one generator to receive the wideband time periodic signal,wherein each of said plurality of receivers comprises: wideband samplingdata converter configured and operable to sample and convert thereceived wideband time periodic signal to digital data; a frequencyresponse calculation unit configured and operable to convert e digitaldata to a frequency domain signal; and a network parameters calculatingunit configured and operable to process the digital data to calculatenetwork parameters.
 2. The real time network analyzer of claim 1,wherein the network analyzer is configured to: sample at least twowideband signals of the network analyzer, wherein a first signal of saidat least two is a reference signal and the other signals are one or moreincoming signals; and compute the ratio of Fourier coefficients betweenthe first signal and the other signals to yield said network parameters.3. The real time network analyzer of claim 1, wherein the widebandperiodic signal spectrum covers all of a frequency range of interest. 4.The real time network analyzer of claim 1, wherein the wideband periodicsignal is a multi-tone signal.
 5. The real time network analyzer ofclaim 1, wherein the wideband sampling data converter is a sub-samplingdata converter.
 6. The real time network analyzer of claim 1, whereinthe frequency response calculation unit is a Fourier transformprocessor.
 7. The real time network analyzer of claim 1, wherein thenetwork analyzer is a vector network analyzer (VNA). 8 The real timenetwork analyzer of claim 1, comprising a transmitter configured andoperable to generate a wideband signal at an appropriate frequency andwith periodicity T₁.
 9. The real time network analyzer of claim 1,further comprising a local oscillator configured and operable togenerate a wideband signal at an appropriate frequency and withperiodicity T₂ for down-conversion of a plurality of signals.
 10. Thereal time network analyzer of claim 1, further comprising: a correlatorunit configured and operable to receive the digital data and correlatethe digital data with a template waveform; and an impulse responseextraction unit connected to the correlator configured and operable tocompute the time domain impulse response.
 11. A method for processing awideband signal to determine network parameters, the method comprising:sampling and converting said wideband signal to digital data by awideband sampling data converter; storing at least one period of saiddigital data in a non-transitory storage memory; and converting the atleast one period of said digital data to frequency domain by a Fouriertransform processor.
 12. The method of claim 11 further comprising:sampling at least two wideband signals of the network analyzer, the atleast two wideband signals comprising a reference signal and one or moreincoming sampled signals; and computing a ratio of Fourier coefficientsbetween the first signal and the one or more incoming sampled signals toyield said network parameters.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein saidparameters are Scattering parameters.
 14. The method of claim 11,further comprising reducing the processed signal bandwidth.
 15. Themethod of claim 11, wherein the wideband sampling data converter is asub-sampling data converter configured and operable to reduce theprocessed signal bandwidth.
 16. The method of claim 15, furthercomprising. performing a Fourier transform to obtain Fourier transformcoefficients; and reordering the Fourier transform coefficients by adeinterleaver for further processing.
 17. The method of claim 15,further comprising deinterleaving the time domain sub-samples of saidsignals into an order which represents the sequential order of thewideband signal samples; and converting the deinterleaved signal to afrequency domain using a Fourier transform.
 18. The method of claim 14,wherein reducing said processed signal bandwidth comprise using awideband baseband signal as a local oscillator of a receiver frequencydown-converter.